Downpour
by Just A Muggle Artist
Summary: Nick Miller was more of a cat then a man. Not only did he hate rain he was convinced he had nine lives to live. He's not sure but he thinks he has four lives left. He cannot tell you how he died, he just knows that he has. It's a gut feeling.


It was 3:00 am on a Thursday morning as Nick Miller turned the key into the lock and closed the bar for the night.

It seemed dumb to him to go back home and sleep for only three hours to then, get waken up by his girlfriend who would blow her 'birthday horn.'

Why he dated a women who got up at six in the morning with a mini trumpet singing 'It's my party and I'll cry if I want to,' is beyond him.

He actually hates it. She's constantly singing and throwing her thick, curly hair all over the place, while jumping and dancing on his bed. He literally hates it, he needs to sleep!

But why is she so damn cute?

He sighs, making his way towards his car in the empty parking lot. It started to rain on him as he started to unlock his car. Nick hated the rain. He cursed under his breath while trying to look for his car keys. Unfortunately for him, Nick couldn't seem to remember where he put them.

How can someone lose their keys in grey sweatpants and a red flannel? The sweatpants didn't even have pockets!

Nick's eyes went wide, realizing that he did not have any pockets on his pants. He frantically started looking all over the car to see if he left them inside the automobile or if he simply just dropped them.

He can't lose his keys now!

When realization hit Nick he instantly stopped what he was doing and groaned. His car keys were hanging in his hand with his cell phone. Nick shook his head while slapping his face around.

"Idiot," he mumbled, unlocking his car.

He needed sleep. _Bad._

After all, Jess's birthday was tomorrow and he had to make it as perfect as a Miller could possible make it. As to anyone who was not a Miller, their definition of perfect was not even near perfect. It was more near the terms of good try, and please don't ever do that again.

But this time it was different!

Nick had the whole day planned. He would go to the grocery store and buy her sunflowers, fresh sunflowers, not the crappy fake kind. He won't make that mistake _again_.

He would then try to work the devil of an oven and make cinnamon rolls. _Try _to make cinnamon rolls. He can't do the impossible, but he sure can attempt it.

He would then wake her up with a sweet kiss and his food, burnt or not.

Then BOOM!

Instant sex.

Nick's planning hadn't gotten far after the sex part. He was still working on it but driving home at three in the morning was hard enough.

Once he started to drive home, all he could think about was how great he was going to make Jess's birthday one she would remember. After all, in a few more months it will be Nick and Jess's sixth month anniversary.

Yeah, he actually knew how long he was dating her and didn't need a freaking calendar!

However, he had no idea what he was going to do then but he can think about that later. All he needs to focus on is driving and making it home alive.

Driving at 3:00 a.m. on the highway wasn't as horrible as Nick thought it would, especially on a Thursday. There weren't that many crazy people that liked to get Thursday and Friday confused but it happened. Those people liked to get drunk on days they really shouldn't. Having a hangover and realizing you have to go into work is never a fun experience. However, Nick hadn't done that in a long time and he grinned as he drove home. Not only had he not gotten a hangover on days he had to work but he also was starting to drink light beer.

Yes, you could say he was maturing. He just wanted to get his life together for Jess so bad that he couldn't think straight.

Nick parked his car near an old abandoned building a few blocks from the apartment. The rain got worse to the point that it turned into a storm. He quickly got out of his car and ran for shelter.

Of course Nick Miller never liked having an umbrella in his car. Why should he have one? He would never need it, he doesn't need a sissy umbrella to hold in public. He was a _man. _And real men walked in the ran.

But Nick Miller was more of a cat then a man. Not only did he hate rain he was convinced he had nine lives to live. He's not sure but he thinks he has four lives left. He cannot tell you how he died, he just knows that he has. It's a gut feeling.

Once inside, Nick quickly went into the elevator where he saw a lot of strange men and women wearing odd looking party hats. They drunkenly try to step around him as one of the guys holds a candle yelling "It's Kwanzaa time bitches!"

Nick quickly looks down and tries to avoid all the loud people. Once he hears the ding and the elevator doors open he bolts out as fast as he can. Without turning back he runs to the familiar 4D door and instantly opens it to find people yelling.

Odd. Why is anyone still up?

Nick slowly puts his keys in the bowl on the table next to the door. He then creeps his way to the kitchen and finds Cece and Schmidt fighting. Again.

"Schmidt, I told you I didn't realize Kyle was coming over! I honestly thought he forgot who I was," Cece yelled while throwing odd looking foods into the blender. The blender was on the kitchen counter near the fridge, which was odd to Nick because they never used the blender unless they were having a party.

"Well he knew good and well who I was Cecilia, the man was drunk and still remembered that I was the jewish shiny man!" Schmidt spat, he quickly went around the kitchen to go to his room when he abruptly stopped.

"What. The. Hell. Is. This?" He said slowly, "Is this wax? On my floor?" Cece rolled her eyes and started ignoring Schmidt as she put more questionable items into the blender.

"Cecilia Parekh, I hope you had a superb time at this little get together because it will be your last Schmidt party you will ever go to," he yelled. "First you get engaged to some strange small man who didn't have an indian accent, now you invite strange men who insult me?"

Nick was really confused now. Why did they have a party and why was there yarn on the floor?

"Hey did you guys have a knitting party?" He asked, letting everyone know that he was in the room.

They both looked at Nick as if he had caught on fire. Nick quickly looked down to make sure he wasn't on fire. He wasn't.

"Don't you get snappy at me Nicolas Miller," Schmidt barked. "Don't you dare come into my humble abode and talk like you don't even know!"

Nick really wanted to say something, he really did, but before he even got to open his mouth Cece turned on the blender and started yelling at Schmidt again. He couldn't even hear what they were saying. He didn't know if he wanted to or not, Schmidt was mad and he didn't even know why.

Nick was about to give up on the two people fighting in front of him when Schmidt instantly turned around, marched to his room and slammed the door.

Cece turned off the blender and looked at Nick as if she was going to kill him.

What did he do?

"Why are you here," she asked annoyed.

"I'm done with work, why's Schmidt all mad?"

Cece rolled her eyes, "Oh he's just mad because he planned a huge surprise party for Jess and she hated it. Also you nor Winston showed up and that made him even more mad."

Nick stood there dumbfounded. Why didn't he just tell him about the party? "Wait, why didn't he plan the party on her birthday? It's tomorrow, er, today."

Cece looked at him as if he grew two heads. "No," she said slowly, "her birthday was technically yesterday, Schmidt just wanted the party to be a surprise for everyone and to have a party that lasted all night long. Which ended horribly because she wanted you there and everyone got drunk. They eventually started snooping around the apartment and messed with Jess's ribbons, yarn, and scented candles."

"Why those?" Nick asked oddly.

"Because they wanted to make a scratch and sniff tug a war rope. Just don't ask, I don't even know." Cece said shaking her head. She started putting more food back in the blender. He still didn't understand why she was doing that, maybe a smoothie? Jess loves smoothies.

Wait. Her birthday was yesterday?

Nick felt his body go numb, he started to sweat and the room started to spin.

"Jess's birthday was yesterday?"

"Yep."

He was the world's worst boyfriend.

"Where is she?"

Cece froze. She gripped the pineapple in her hand and turned to Nick with murder on her mind. He swallowed and tried to act not afraid, even though he was terrified.

"She went to go see you," She said through gritted teeth, "thirty minutes ago."

Nick instantly ran out of the apartment, down the four flights of stairs, and to his car. He jumped inside, started the car and drove as fast as he could back to the bar.

He got there quicker than he expected but once he did he parked and ran out of his car. Nick stood in the rain and looked around, hoping to find Jess. He couldn't see much because of how heavy the rain was falling. However, he did see a woman sitting by the door he locked an hour ago with a balloon in her hand.

The woman had a party hat on that was the same color of her red party dress. She held a smiley faced balloon in her right hand and had a little instrument in her lap.

"Jess," Nick said as he jogged over to her.

Jess looked up at Nick, wearing a half smile on her face. She took her horn and got up slowly, Nick looked at her with the saddest eyes. They just stood there, looking at each other in silence. All they would hear was the downpour of the rain.

He was a bigger failure than he thought he was, there was no way of turning this around. This truly was it wasn't it? Jess would no longer be his.

Nick was the first one to speak, "So…yesterday was your birthday, huh?"

Nick Miller had officially stopped thinking.

"Yes…yes it was," Jess said while staring at her shoes.

Another moment of silence.

"So I heard you had a party thrown for you."

"Nick would you just cut the crap and tell me you forgot my birthday?" Jess yelled, she was so mad she let go of her balloon.

It was an odd sight watching a balloon float up while rain was trying to bring it down. But once the balloon was high enough that it couldn't be seen Jess started to cry.

She looked up at Nick who was motionless, just staring at her.

"I thought it was today, I had the whole day planned out for you! You were suppose to wake me up at six in the morning! I was going to make you breakfast!"

"Dammit Nick! What happened to the calendar I gave you? I marked my birthday in it!"

"I didn't throw it away," he chocked out, "Because if you're thinking that, don't, because I didn't!"

"Then what happened to it?" She snapped.

"It might have fallen off the wall when I was dancing, and I possibly never put it back up" He mumbled.

Jess shook her head violently, she dropped her little horn on the ground and stomped her foot. "Nick Miller this is getting us no where!"

"I don't need a calendar, I know that next month will be our sixth month anniversary!" Nick yelled proudly.

"Are you serious?" Jess screamed, "Our _eighth_ month anniversary is in _two_ months!"

Nick stood there in silence. He put his head down in defeat. He felt ashamed, he just can't do anything right can he?

"Why are we still doing this?" He asked softly, "Jess we are always fighting, I can't eat with you without you telling me to chew with my mouth closed."

"Cause it's disgusting to watch you eat like a cow!"

"You've never had a problem with it before! Dammit Jess, we are practically trying to save a sinking ship!"

She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes, he was always bringing this up every time they fought.

"Why are you always trying to leave me?" She whispered, "I thought we had something good here."

"We did Jess, I just don't want to disappoint you further than what I have."

"So you're going to break up with me on the day you _thought _was my birthday? Well aren't you the romanic type," She spat.

Nick felt his heart ache as he looked up at her, his whole world was staring back at him and all he wanted to do was run away.

The consequences of his actions will be the death of him but he can't keep on doing this. Nick felt that she should be with someone who would come home to everyday with a suit on and kiss her on the cheek. Helping her with dinner and playing with their kids and singing stupid songs. He knew non of that would happen if he stayed with her. He knew that deep down they would eventually hurt each other so bad that they would never get back together. And that was what hurt Nick the most, knowing something like that will happen and not trying to prevent the pain.

"Jess I'm sorry but I forgot your birthday, I left you in the rain, on your birthday. I don't want you to live with good enough. I am good enough! You'll regret it and I don't think I'll be able to live with myself if I did that to you, to us."

Jess just looked at him with tear in her eyes. "Nick, could you not be yourself for like, five minuets?"

He looked at her oddly as she took a deep breath, it was hard to talk to someone in the pouring rain but they were both so worked up that they hardly noticed it.

"Yes, you chew your food like a cow. Yes, you act like a idiot 95% of the time but you know what? It's my choice to be around your idiocy. It's my choice to be out in the rain hoping my boyfriend was going to come out of the building to see me."

"You thought I was in the building?"

"I thought you fell asleep," she said sheepishly. "But that's not the point. The point is that it's my choice to do all the things I am doing. Have I wanted to kill you while you were asleep? Hell yeah! Have I wanted to make out with you so hard it would make you see stars? Damn right! However, it was my choice to not kill you and I have made you see more than stars! I'm a grown women Nicolas Miller. Let me handle my own decisions."

They looked at each other for a moment. Looking at every inch of each others faces, every curve and every flaw. They were so fascinated with each other that they completely forgot about their argument.

"And by the way Miller, I want good enough."

"I want you," He said softly. "I bought you a windchime," Nick blurted out.

"For my birthday?" Jess asked confused.

"Yeah," he said stepping closer to his girlfriend. "I thought you could hang it up in our new apartment."

"You got us an apartment?" She asked surprised, she did not see that coming.

"Not yet, but why not? It's our_ choice_ what we do. So what do you say? Do you want to live with just me?"

Jessica Day leaned into her boyfriend to kiss him when she realized, "You didn't buy me a wind chime did you?"

"Well actually I was thinking of stealing that buildings windchime, over there." He pointed to the building right next to the bar. It hung from the entrance of the building, right next to the doors. It was little completely made out of yarn. It was a hoop that was woven with yarn into a web. It stood still against the door, motionless.

Jess giggled as she looked from what Nick was pointing at back to him, "Nick, that's a dreamcatcher. Not a windchime."

Nick did his special turtle-face as he look at the 'dreamcatcher' from afar. "Well I thought I heard it make a noise the other day."

"Just shut up and kiss me," she smiled, "Then we can go steal the windchime and pretend that my birthday is today. Okay?"

Nick grinned from ear to ear as he looked down at Jessica Day. This women came into his life unexpectedly but she would be dammed if she left and he didn't mind that. Not one bit.


End file.
